Listening is a fine art in our relationships with people. Listening to God is a necessity in our journey of faith. We must learn the ways He speaks to us and depend on the Holy Spirit to help us understand and obey. This is a moment-by-moment discovery for every Christian, whether they have walked with God 20 years or two weeks.
Listening to God is imperative, and it’s a major feature in a biblical prophecy from Deuteronomy regarding God’s unerring Christmas plan:
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him” (Deuteronomy 18: 15-19, ESV; emphasis mine).
In this passage, Moses told the Israelites that one day
they would hear from a Prophet, whose voice they must heed. Moses also reminded
them that they previously rejected the voice of God (Exodus 20:18-20), and
relied on Moses’ voice because God frightened them.
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| Mass revelation at the Mount Horeb in an illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company, 1907/Photo: Wikipedia Commons |
The Jews in Jesus’ day were familiar with the
Deuteronomy passage. For example, when Jesus fed the five thousand, the people
affirmed that the Man from Galilee, one of their own, was the expected Prophet (John 6:14).
Even after Jesus died, rose and ascended into heaven, the Deuteronomy passage was invoked specifically. Stephen, when he addressed the Sanhedrin, quoted from Deuteronomy to underscore Jesus’ identity as the Prophet spoken of by Moses. Stephen boldly connected the beloved Moses, the burning bush, the Exodus journey, the giving of the law, and the prophecy from Deuteronomy with Jesus the Messiah. It was a sermon to shout about, indeed!
But let’s go back to the “listening” element of Moses’
prophecy. When Jesus was marvelously transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared with Him on
the mountain. According to Mark’s account:
And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7, ESV).
Isn’t it interesting that after the heavenly Voice fell silent,
Moses and Elijah disappeared? Only Jesus remained. There He was, the Son of God,
the promised Seed from the Garden of Eden, and He was perceived as more
accessible to the terrified disciples Peter, James and John. Jesus, the carpenter, their Rabbi, was
the One they were learning to listen to – just like we’re learning to heed Jesus’
words today.
Jesus Himself said that He must be heard. Moses’ prophecy enlarges the context of Jesus’ words because He was the Prophet Moses foresaw. No one could match Him in this role. For instance, in John 5:24, when the people challenged Jesus’ divine authority, He emphasized that hearing His voice was a matter of life-or-death:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
And at the end of John 5, in verses 46 and 47, Jesus tied
up the discussion like a bow on a Christmas gift. In two elegant sentences, He seals the connection between Himself and Moses:
“For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
Life’s circumstances may numb us
and hinder our communication with God, but we must get past the distractions. It’s essential that we commune with the Lover of our souls, and the One Voice we need to hear the most.
Next: God’s promise that Jesus would be called the Son of God
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